Eugenie Bouchard roars back to upset top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in Istanbul

Joe Wright

Eugenie Bouchard roars back to upset top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in Istanbul image

Eugenie Bouchard came through an enthralling encounter with Svetlana Kuznetsova to record her first win over a top-30 player in nearly two years.

The Canadian beat the No. 1 seed 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 6-2 in a match just short of three hours at the Istanbul Open on Thursday.

Bouchard, who had lost all three previous meetings with Kuznetsova, almost let the first set slip from her grasp and squandered three match points in the second before recovering her poise to close out the win.

Speaking after reaching her third quarterfinal of an encouraging year, the 26-year-old Montreal native said: "That was extremely tough mentally.

"I blocked out mentally that I had missed match-point opportunities, so I had this anger – but I was calm. I had this calm anger at the start of the third set. That motivated me – I wanted to do the right thing after messing up. I wanted to make things better."

Bouchard will face Danka Kovinic next after the Montenegrin beat sixth-seeded Alison Van Uytvanck 6-3, 6-4.

Fourth seed Caroline Garcia is also out, falling 6-1, 6-4 to Tereza Martincova, who will next meet Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Third seed Polona Hercog will face Paula Badosa in her quarterfinal after beating Jasmine Paolini in straight sets, while Patricia Tig and Rebecca Peterson will contest the other last-eight match.

Joe Wright

Joe Wright Photo

Joe is a Senior Editor at Sporting News. He was previously a sub editor and writer for Goal.com before spending six years as part of the Stats Perform editorial news service, covering major global sports including football, tennis, boxing, NBA, rugby union and athletics. Joe has reported live on some of the biggest games in football, including two UEFA Champions League finals, Euro 2016, the Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 World Cup final at the end of a month in Russia.